To be fair, I probably was projecting to some extent about the anger. When someone says, in effect, “Everything you stake your life upon is disgusting nonsense,” it’s hard not to respond with some anger or to read it as such. It’s clear that we aren’t going to convince each other by means of these articles to change our radically different approaches to religion. I don’t want to come across as trying to control or deride you. But I get so excited about my God that I can’t help talking about Him.

The abuses of religion you describe are also familiar to me. I’m in the middle of detailing my experiences in my Post-Baptist therapy series. Hopefully I can communicate why I’m still a believer and church member in spite of all that.

If, as you claim, Jesus was just a man like you, and the “legends” about Him are nothing more than superstition, then you’d be quite right about those who claim His name. As the apostle Paul says, we would be of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19). But if, as we claim, He really was the Most High God incarnate…well, that changes everything.

God suffered. He suffered the worst the world could throw at Him. Poverty. Hatred. Loneliness. Loss. Rejection. Family conflict. Betrayal. Injustice. Torture. Death. He is not merely the Creator who holds all things together in perfect harmony — though He is that. And He is not only the sovereign director of history who works all things to a good end — though He is that, too. He is a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). He knows what His people go through in this broken world, not just by omniscient sympathy, but by experience. He personally confronted all the evils of nature, supernature, and humanity, and triumphed over them.

What difference does this make to “the real world”? Much!

I don’t have to “look out for number one”, because the number one person in the universe is already looking out for me. I don’t have to seek out attention or approval from others, or be afraid of losing it, because His death has ensured my approval before God. I don’t have to control or harm the people around me in order to be safe, because safety is not my final hope — rather, I have assurance that through suffering comes glory.

I can forgive others and be kind to those who hurt me, because He showed me how justice can look like redemption. I can reach out to those who disgust or frighten me, because He showed me how far He’s willing to go and promised to be with me. I can give expecting nothing in return, because the giver of all good things has given me Himself.

Now, a personal code of ethics, or a law, can agree with me that all of those are good actions or attitudes. But no rule, no law, can empower people to follow it. When the chips are down; when suffering seems endless and senseless; when the entire universe seems set against you and your code; what is more motivating? “You’d better do this if you want to be a good person”? “This will all play into the larger plan that you’re too small to understand, so just do your part”?

Try this: “I’ve been there. I understand how hard this is. I will be there with you the whole time you’re going through it. Your suffering will not be wasted any more than mine was. I love you enough to take on the whole world, and I did. You — and the people you love, and even the people you hate — are worth suffering for. I’ve got you. I’ve got this. I will give you everything you need to get through it.”

Believing a message like that, with inward conviction and outward proofs, will change someone’s attitude. This is how the early Christian martyrs could go to their deaths singing praises. This is how the impossible demands of the Sermon on the Mount (“Love your enemies”, etc.) are rendered possible.

The abuses of Christianity are real. But they are just that — abuses. Misunderstandings. Missing the whole point. They fall for the lie that God is not good, by portraying Him as the Cosmic Sadist, or a stern and aloof Judge, or a petty and vindictive Tyrant. Any variant of “God just wants us/you to suffer” is the devil’s lie, and sneaking it in under the sign of the cross is probably his greatest achievement.

But for people who believe what the cross truly says — that God counts us as worth His own suffering — Satan’s accusations lose their power. People who celebrate that fact with others every week, who take it in with the food they eat, who talk about it when they go out and come in and sit down and walk around, who let it form the very structure of their lives — they can make a powerful difference in the world. That is what the Church is supposed to be. That is what it has been, and still is, in many ways and in many places. That is what keeps me in it in spite of all those who have used it to harm me.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living! — Psalm 27:13